Automatic valve.



No. 647,8), Paten-td Apr. l7, moon .1. H. DERBY.

AUTOMATIC VALVE (Application filed Dec. 10, 1897.)

(No Modal.)

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ATENT JOHN H. DERBY, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGN OR, BY DIRECT ANDMESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO EVERETT D. OHADlVIOK, TRUSTEE, OF SAME PLACE.

AUTOMATIC VALVE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 647,810, dated April17, 1900.

Application filed December 10, 1897- Serial No. 661,333 (No model.)

To ctZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, JOHN H. DERBY, of Boston, county of Suffolk, andState of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in AutomaticValves, of which the following description, in connection with theaccompanying drawing, is a specification, like letters on the drawingrepresenting like parts.

My invention relates to automatic valves, and more particularly to thatspecies thereof known as dry valves, such as are used in connection withautomatic sprinkler systems for extinguishing fires.

A dry valve embodying a preferred form of my invention is illustrated inthe accompanying drawing, in which the figure shows a central verticalsection of the valve.

The casing A of my valve is preferably cylindrical in form and may bemade in two parts a a, firmly secured together liquidtight by bolts aextending through flanges a a formed on said parts. The casing Acontains within it, as shown, a smaller cylindrical casing a open atboth ends and rigidly secured to the casing A by means of thescrew-threads shown at its upper end or otherwise. A space a is thusprovided between the two casings, which, in connection with ports aformed in the walls of the inner casing near its upper end, affords afree passage for the water from the inlet (6 at the lower end of thecasing A to the outlet a at its upper end. The casing A is provided nearits lower end with a valve-seat a against which a valve proper, b, isadapted to be seated to close the inlet a My present invention relateschiefly to this valve (9 and to the combination therewith of a certainlocking mechanism to be presently described, and I do not claim hereinmy valve-casing or my locking mechanism broadly, they being claimed inLetters Patent No. 625,7e8, granted May 30, 1899, for improvements inautomatic valves invented by me. of two parts, both of which arenormally eX- posed to the pressure of the inlet a and which are soarranged and connected that one of said parts is normally locked againstbeing opened by mechanism adapted to be actuated by the other end ofsaid parts upon the occurrence of the conditions which determine Myvalve proper, l), is madethe opening of the valve. According to thearrangement of these parts, which is shown in the drawing, the part I)of the valve resembles a short cylinder provided at its upper end withahollow extension or stem 17 and having itslower end formed toaccurately fit the valve-seat a The other part b of the valve properconsists of a piston adapted to slide in the cylinder 1) and providedwith a piston-rod 5 passing upward through the hollow stem 19 to thevalve-locking mechanism which it actuates.

The locking mechanism for the part Z) of the valve proper consists,preferably, of two levers 12 b pivoted, as at Z9 W, to lugs b 19attached to a cross-plate Z1 secured to the casing a preferably by meansof screw threads adapted to engage a threaded flange b formed on saidcasing of. The inner ends of the levers Z7 19 are adapted to engagerecesses Z7 19 in the stem Z1 and the outer ends of said levers arepivoted to links I)" Z2 which are also pivoted to lugs (J I), dependingfrom a movable plate 11 The plate b is rigidly secured to the upper endof the piston rod 19 and is normally held at the limit of its downwardmovement by means of the pressure of the compressed air in the pipesystem of which the valve-casing forms a part, said pressure being givenaccess to the top of the plate I) through a port Z1 in a'detachable headb hwith which the casing a is provided near its upper end. The spaceimmediately below the plate b is closed at its bottom against theentrance of the compressed air by a partition I), provided with apacking through which the valve-stem b slides and which may consist of awasher of suitable packing material I), held in place by a plate I),which is attached to the partition Z9 by screws b. The closed chamberthus formed between the partition Z9 and the movable plate 73 is put incommunication with the ex ternal atmosphere by means of a pipe 5 andthereby the full effect of the compressed-air pressure in the system ismade operative on the movable plate 12 to hold it down against thepressure of the water in the inlet a against the piston b The movableplate b preferably forms a piston sliding easily in the casing a andadapted to seat against an annular flange 1/ on the casing a whichflange may be provided with a packing-ring b so that the chamber belowthe plate I) may be tightly closed there by. Thus when the parts of thevalve are in their normal position,which is that illustrated in thedrawing, the compressed air in the system will operate on the plate I)to hold it against its seat, and thereby maintain the levers b N inposition to lock the part Z) of the valve closed, and it will be readilyseen that the advantage gained by my two-part construction of the valveproper is that a considerable portion of the valve against which thewatenpressure acts is positively locked against its seat, so that thewater-pressure which must be overcome by the compressedair pressure actsonly on a small portion of the area of the valve and may therefore bebalanced by a much-reduced air-pressure acting on the greater area ofthe movable plate U, which aetuates the valve-locking mechanism. Thus bysufficiently reducing the size of the piston b the necessarycompressed-air pressure may be correspondingly reduced to any desiredextent, a result which is well known to be very desirable. It will benoticed that the pressure of the water against the portion 1) of thevalve proper, acting through the locking-levers and theirconnecting-links, tends to hold the plate 17 all the more firmly to itsseat and provides a small additional resistance which in ust be overcomeby the pressure of the water on the piston h before the valve can open.

In operation, when the air-pressure on the plate If has been reduced toa predetermined point, as by the opening of a sprinkler, thewater-pressure acting on the piston b will move the plate 0 upward, andthereby disengage the locking-levers from the recesses in the valve-stemb whereupon the water will force open the portion Z) of the valve andflow through the space between the two casings,

into the sprinkler system. At the same time the rising of the plate bwill cause a projection Z), formed thereon, to enter and close theport 1) thereby preventing the water from entering the space above theplate b and exerting pressure thereon. In case any water leaks by thevalve 11 and plate 6 it will be drained from the casing through the pipeI). \Vhen it is desired to set the valve again, the water-supply is cutoff and the water is drained from the sprinkler system through asuitable pipe 0 after which the portion 1) of the valve is moveddownward against its seat by hand, if necessary, access thereto beinghad through a suitable hand-hole provided with a removable cover 0Compressed air is then forced into the sprinkler system and the plate bis thereby moved downward to its seat, locking the valve closed.

In orderthata slight movement of the plate Z) may suffice to unlock thevalve, I prefer to offset the pivots Z1 11 on which the levers b I) rockfrom the longitudinal axis of said levers, it being obvious that thegreater the amount of this offsetting the less the angular movementnecessary to be given to the 100k ing-levers in order to withdraw themfrom engagement with the stem W.

The pipe 0" will serve as a leakage-drain and should be connected to anautomatic alarm-trap. (Not herein shown.)

It is sometimes desirable to cause the opening of the valve to give analarm, and for this purpose an electric hell 0 may be provided andincluded in a battery-circuit having one of its terminals 0 directlyconnected to the outside casing A and its other terminal 0 connectedwith a eontact-plate 0 secured to an insulating-support c", which is setinto the inner casing just above the movable plate if, so that saidplate will close the circuit through the bell c after moving but a shortdistance.

I claim as my invention- 1. In an automatic valve, a two-part valveproper, both parts thereof being exposed to the pressure in thevalve-inlet, means for holding one of said parts positively lockedagainst its seat, and mechanism operated by the other of said parts forunlocking said valve.

2. In an automatic valve, a two-part valve proper, one of said partsbeing hollow and the other of said parts sliding therein, a movableplate rigidly connected to said sliding part, and valve-lockingmechanism arranged to be operated by said movable plate.

3. In an automatic valve normally contain-- in gair under pressure,atwo-partvalve proper, a movable plate on which said air-pressu re isoperative, and valve-locking mechanism ar ranged to be operated by saidplate, the lat ter being also directly connected to one of the parts ofthe valve proper.

t. In an automatic valve normally containin g air under pressure,atwo-part valve proper comprising a hollow portion having a pistonarranged to slide therein, a movable plate rigidly attached to saidpiston and on which the air-pressure is operative, pivoted leversarranged to lock the hollow portion of the valve to its seat, and linksconnecting said levers with the movable plate.

5. In an automatic valve normally containing air under pressure, thecombination of an outer casing provided with a two-part valve proper, aninner easing suspended therein, a norn1allyclosed chamber in said innercasing in communication with the external air, and a movable platearranged to close said chamber, said plate being directly connected toone of the parts of the valve proper, and also to mechanism whereby theother part of the valve proper is normally locked to its seat.

6. In an automatic valve normally containing air under pressure, thecombination of an outer casing provided with a two-part valve proper, aninner casing suspended therein and provided with a port in its top wall,a movable plate in said inner casing provided with a projection adaptedto cooperate with said port, a chamber in said inner casing normallyclosed by said movable plate, and a two-part valve proper one part ofwhich is directly connected to the movable plate, the other part thereofbeing normally locked to its seat by mechanism arranged to be operatedby said movable plate.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing Witnesses.

JOHN H. DERBY.

Witnesses:

J AS. H. CHURCHILL, J. MURPHY.

